Lindiwe Mabuza was born in 1938 in Newcastle, in what is now KwaZulu Natal. She struggled to find employment in South Africa, working in Lesotho and then Swaziland (now Eswatini), before moving to the USA. Here she studied a Master’s in English at Stanford University, followed by a second Master’s in History at the University of Minnesota. She was also an Assistant Professor in Literature and History at Ohio University.
In 1975, she joined the African National Congress (ANC), working as a journalist on Radio Freedom based in Lusaka. Her concern with women’s issues led to her involvement with Voice of the Women (VOW), the ANC’s feminist journal, which encouraged women to write poetry. The VOW gave its readers a forum in which to express themselves and their feelings and to tell the world about their lives. These stories were later published in a collection in 1980 under the title Malibongwe. She is the co-editor of Oliver Tambo Remembered, a tribute to one of South Africa’s greatest leaders.
In 1979, Oliver Tambo, the ANC President, appointed her as Chief Representative to the Scandinavian countries. She was such a formidable opponent of apartheid that the ANC Offices in Sweden were bombed in an attempt to assassinate her. In 1996, she was transferred to the USA as ANC Chief Representative, where she used her skills to lobby Congress for the imposition of sanctions, despite the opposition of President Ronald Reagan. In 1994, she became a member of the first democratically elected Parliament in South African history, serving under President Nelson Mandela.
In 1995, she was appointed as the Ambassador to Germany, and went on to serve in similar posts in Malaysia and the Philippines. In 2001, she was appointed as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and served in the post for 10 years. During this time, she proved an important friend to ACTSA and visited ACTSA Scotland on several occasions. She was a huge asset to her country and was awarded the national Order of Ikhamanga in Silver.
Lindiwe was also an outstanding poet: her poems were published in various anthologies and in five separate collections. The best known of these is Footprints and Fingerprints which was published in 2008. In particular, she had a love of Robert Burns, and hosted Burns Suppers at the South African High Commission in London. Anyone who heard her recite A Slave’s Lament will not forget it.
Lindiwe Mabuza was an extraordinary woman, an exemplar of the struggle against apartheid and dedicated to the reconstruction of her country. She was a great activist, a cultural ambassador and curator of oral histories of her people. We will remember her. Hamba Kahle, Cde Lindiwe. Rest in Peace.